An educated person is one who knows where to find what he does not know..

Georg Simmel

The founders of each search engine set themselves the task of not just creating a search engine, but a service capable of predicting all the thoughts and desires of the user and finding a complete and relevant answer to his question the first time. The path to its realization is long and thorny! And as we can see, today not a single search engine in the world has been able to create such a perfect algorithm to answer all user requests with 100% accuracy the first time. You can spend many years looking for a solution, however, the trend of personalization of issuance has firmly established itself in the search world lately. Indeed, why guess what the user wants if the desires of the majority differ. You can’t please everyone, but you can’t please just one, very much so, Google decided and was the first of the search engines to conduct “ personalized revolution". What it was, and what consequences await users and optimizers, we will consider in this article.

First attempts

For the first time, an attempt to personalize search Google results undertook in 2007. Then the search engine suggested that users mark how relevant the resource is in the search results, using the appropriate smilies in the toolbar.

Blocking pages in SERP

The idea with the arrangement of stars and ratings did not take root. In 2011, Google took a fundamentally new path: why invite users to vote for their favorite sites, when you can simply remove irrelevant resources from the search results!

As a result, the search engine launched the function page blocking in SERP. At first, the function was implemented in the form for the browser Google Chrome. Using this extension, the user could remove sites from the search results that were irrelevant to the specified request. In the future, these sites were no longer shown in the individual SERP of this user. The user received a unique issue, and Google received free assessors, because all data about blocked sites was sent straight to the search engine specialists.

Some time later, this extension was transformed into a search engine, and all logged-in Google users could block sites and change the results to their liking. Autumn innovation to users of most countries.

According to Google, data about blocked sites is being collected at the moment and will be taken into account when ranking in the future. How exactly - is not yet said. But it has already been said more than once that using this information, Google will be able to clean spam and improve its quality.

+1 button

The idea of ​​users voting for their favorite sites never left Google. At the end of March 2011, a search engine appeared in the search results, which allowed users to mark the sites they liked directly in the search results. At first, this feature was only available to logged in users. However, already in the summer of 2011, all Google users can see how many "pluses" this or that site has received in the search results. A little earlier, the +1 button became available for installation on third-party sites.

With the introduction of the +1 button, each user's issuance gets an element of personality. After all, in addition to the number of +1 marks, the user sees which of his contact list and Google+ friends rated this site. And already following their recommendations, choose the most appropriate result in the search results.

Thus, Google once again replenished its army of assessors who helped it improve the quality of its search. However, the search engine did not tell in detail how information about the “pluses” of users will be used. The only thing he mentioned is that all data will be tested and only then will be added to the ranking formula in order to improve the quality of the SERP.

However, Google still let webmasters know about the effect of the +1 button on the site. In the summer, Google Webmaster Tools appeared, which reflects the impact of the button on the amount of traffic to the site and on the CTR of the site. For comparison, data is displayed on the CTR of the page with +1 comments and without. In addition, the report shows geographic and demographic information about Google users who clicked the +1 button.

In addition, Google reported that the presence of the +1 button on the site will contribute more to the site of the search robot.

Search Plus Your World

The tendency to issue different results to different users has been outlined in search engines for a long time. However, in January 2012, Google went even further and offered users completely personalized search results, diluting the issue with information from the Google+ social network. The new feature was called "Search Plus Your World" (Search plus your world) and consisted in the fact that from now on the user was offered 2 types of SERP:

Despite the criticism, Google's version of personalized search is still a very significant step in the development of search. Of course, it is still far from perfect, and its usefulness and necessity are being questioned by many. But I do not think that many users perceive the innovation negatively - after all, they can always switch to regular version SERP.

Well, if you personalize, then that's it, Google decided and began to remember the queries that users asked, so that later they could be given in prompts. In the search suggestions block, these queries are highlighted in purple, and a Delete button is displayed next to them. Personally, it worked for me in mid-February, but, according to one of our readers, this pattern has been observed for a couple of months. Google has not yet made any official statements in this regard.

What the experts say

I wonder how personalized Google search will develop? With this question, we turned to leading SEO specialists.

Leonid Grokhovsky, Director of Promotion and Automation Technology, Optimism.ru:

Search personalization is an important step in the development of search engines. As social services and analytical systems develop, the amount of information on the basis of which search engines can draw conclusions about the needs of users will certainly only grow.

Here we cannot fail to mention the trend in the development of behavioral factors, which are also based on the study of users. Many years ago, when search engines were just beginning to exist, it was not possible to take these factors into account, so search algorithms were forced to be developed based on indirect signs that determine whether the content of the page meets the user's needs. Today we are witnessing the beginning of a new era of search, which is based on real user data.

What awaits us in the future? The trend will continue to develop, but not as rapidly as many would like. The fact is that the collection, calculation of this data and processing requires huge capacities. Is it worth it to be afraid? Unlikely, because this trend is taking us from spam to marketing.

Alexey Podymov, analyst, Ingate:

The direction is interesting and, of course, is designed to improve the quality of the search in the eyes of the user. Yandex, as you know, is also experimenting with both issuance and personalized search suggestions (except that its own Yandex + is not yet available).

As a user of a search engine, I am, in principle, impressed by the ability to manageSERP'om - block sites, vote, recommend to friends. Here the main thing for the search engine is to strike a balance between personalized and adequate issuance; for the user, on the other hand, not to close in his little world - entering a request on a personal prompt, visiting “their” previously marked sites, reading the posts of his friends ... in such a situation, the Internet risks being limited to two or three hundred pages for each user.

The direction of personalized search, I think, will be developed by leading search engines, including through increased interaction with social networks, because personalization is inextricably linked with the social activity of users. Probably not far off the day whenGooglehe himself will enter a request for you, he himself will choose the right product, he will discuss it with your friends, he will place an order ... the only thing left is to hope that he himself will pay for it :)

Elena Kamskaya, supervisor Seolib.com:

I think, first of all, personalization will be made available for regional searches, including for Google.ru. The next step is likely to be the mandatory personalization of search results - personalized posts will be mixed into the main results, regardless of whether the user wants it or not.

I also do not exclude the possibility that Google will still find a common language with Facebook, and then one of the next steps could be the use of Facebook data to personalize search.

Personally for myself, as a user, I do not see the need for such "social" personalization. If I want to learn something from friends or acquaintances, I can do it without the help of a search engine. Therefore, I consider personalization based on user location data, like Yandex, much more successful. Now, for most requests in Yandex, each user receives links to companies that are located in his city. In the future, links to companies that are located on the next street or in the next house will probably be shown - this will be a good personalized search.

The main task of the systems that organize the search is to satisfy the user's information needs as quickly as possible. Since the information need cannot be accurately determined by one request, it is necessary to study the user, store and analyze the history of his behavior. On the other hand, in some aspects, people trust more those results (sites or companies in case of commercial inquiries) that friends recommend to them, or with which they have a positive experience of interaction. Many global search experts agree that recommendation search is the best option.

In this regard, search giants, starting with Google, in developing their technologies will move towards studying the preferences of users, as well as the preferences of those people whom these users trust, in most cases their friends. This is the main idea in personalizing search results.

Accordingly, in personalized search, we can expect closer interaction between search engines and social networks, where all social links are stored. At the same time, "+1" and "like" should not greatly affect the overall search, as this will be taken into account as recommendations from strangers whom we do not necessarily trust. It is difficult to say how Google's personalized search will develop, it will collect data about us and, based on it, give us its answers to our questions. As for the interface, it should not change much, already now it has all the necessary information for making decisions (photos of authors, links to friends' profiles, etc.).

Search technologies do not stand still. As you can see, Google has long chosen the direction for the development of its own search and diligently follows it. The search engine is confident that personalized results are the most accurate and relevant. And if, over time, Google decides that search results should be exclusively personalized, most SEOs will only sigh doomedly: after all, if half of the SERPs are personalized posts, the competition for the remaining positions will seriously increase. But imagine how the CTR of the remaining sites in the TOP-10 can increase.

But it is too early to draw final conclusions. Personalized search is currently only available for google.com, which means that this version is still being tested and tested, and in the future we can expect significant changes.

Personalized search is a Yandex algorithm that generates search results taking into account the individual data of each user: history of visits, behavior on sites, interests, geographic location, etc. In total, there are more than 200 factors that the search engine takes into account when personalizing

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Why personalization is needed

The main goal of the algorithm is to provide users with the opportunity to receive better and more interesting content via keywords. If a person has just started using Yandex to search for information, personalized results will only start after the system has collected enough data. The search engine analyzes not only behavioral factors and browsing history, but also bookmarks in the browser.

Personalization generates search results in such a way that when entering a query, the user receives information that is within the scope of his interests, or thematically close to his request. For example, when searching for a product, the algorithm will offer a person various promotions, discounts, additional accessories, and other services that may be of interest to him.

Personalization occurs regardless of how the user formulates the request. The algorithm takes into account:

• Typos and slang.
• Words used by people from different social groups: youth communication style, professional language, etc.

Benefits from personalization are received not only by users themselves, but also by site owners. For them, there are great prospects in the field of search advertising, traffic has become more targeted, and the overall competition for search phrases has noticeably decreased.

The results of Yandex search results personalization cannot be stable and are constantly changing in accordance with user behavior. If a person went to a page from organic issuance and immediately closed it, then the position of the page will decrease. And vice versa, if the user liked the resource, he stayed on it for a long time, added the link to bookmarks, then in the future it will be shown to this user for related queries, and his rating in the search results will increase.

Disabling personalization in Yandex

If you do not want the search to be personalized, you can disable this feature in the system settings. To do this, go to the settings section, you will find a link to it under the search results in Yandex.

Uncheck "Include my search history in results" and "Show my favorite sites in tooltips" checkboxes.

Keep in mind that your previous activity will remain in the search engine's database, and your computer's IP address will still affect search results. Therefore, you can use .

Why should an optimizer get rid of personalized search results?

Sometimes personalization interferes with the work of optimizers and site owners.
For example, he wants to know what position in the search results the promoted site occupies, but he sees personalized biased results. If he often visits this site or resources with similar topics, then the position will be higher than in the issuance of other users for the same request. To see results without taking into account personal data and previous visits, you need to turn off personalization.

The Benefits of Search Suggestions for SEOs and Regular Users

For Yandex users, personalization can facilitate the process of finding information even at the stage of generating hints.

1. The previously entered query will be displayed in the tooltips above.
2. If a person has previously visited a site, then he will be able to open it in a browser in one click. Users can customize the search to suit their individual preferences and specify which sites should come first in the list of suggestions.
3. When a person enters a query, prompts are automatically adjusted to the relevant topic.

How to check search results without personalization

There are several ways to find out what position a site occupies:

1. AT manual mode, after disabling personalization in the account settings. Next, the query of interest is entered into the search engine and the position of the site is tracked. In this case, you need to use.
2. By using special programs that are installed on the PC. Among the most famous are CS Yazzle and SiteAuditor.
3. Using online services for monitoring, collecting and analyzing data on the effectiveness of search engine promotion: Topvisor, AllPositions, etc.

So you can get objective data about the positions of your site in the search results and, in accordance with this information, build the right promotion strategy.

What is a custom system Google search?

To make it easier for your site visitors to find the information they need, add a custom search engine based on Google algorithms to your site. Thanks to our proven technologies, users will get high-quality and relevant results. In the Custom Search System, you can:

• customize the external search box and result pages to match the style of your site;
• Refine search results, use autocomplete, and promote results to improve search performance for users;
• analyze visitor behavior by linking the NGN with Google Analytics;
• Earn money by participating in the Google AdSense program.

How is Custom Search different from Google Web Search?

The custom search system can be used to search for information on the entire Internet, similar to Google.ru. However, there are also differences. Your SPP:

• gives results from your site a higher priority;
• does not support some, such as personalized results;
• can show the user only a subset of the total number of results in the Google index if more than 10 sites are searched.

I am very interested in search engine technology Google systems, its development, so I watch them all the time. Including her new social network Google+. As you know, Google, first of all, tests all its new features on bourgeois results.

And since Google, represented by AdWords, is the breadwinner of one of my sites, and the supplier of traffic to it, and this one also gives traffic, I am very interested in what is happening there in the West, because after a while, all this will be work already in Russian Google. In general, another observation from the blog of an interesting Western seo specialist - Jacob Stoops. So let's go.

In case you haven't noticed, Google has begun rolling out a new social search algorithm called "Search Plus Your World". This new change, which will take effect in a few days, brings clarity to Google's latest innovation - the launch of its social network and the rollout of encrypted search.

The socialization of Google search began back in 2009, and this adaptation has become a hidden trump card that can increase the power of the search engine, which will make the fight in social world with Twitter and Facebook more efficient.

Here's a short excerpt from what Google has to say about Search Plus Your World:

We are transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and their connections. The transformation began with social search, and today we are taking another major step in this direction, introducing 3 new features:

1. Personalized results that allow you to see only the information you need, such as Google+ photos and posts, both yours and the people you follow. There will be nothing superfluous on the issuance page.

2. Profiles in the search - the function is automatic and allows you to see profiles of people close or interesting to you on the search results page.

3. People & Pages - Allows you to find people's profiles or Google+ pages related to your interests. You can follow them with just a couple of clicks.

These three features together make Search Plus Your World. Search is easier and better with your world in it. Still ahead.

Amit Singal, who oversees Google's algorithms, said in an interview with Danny Sullivan:

Social search algorithm, personal search algorithm and personalized algorithm have now become one combined algorithm. We find it very pleasant and helpful.

Personal Results

At the top of the search results page, users can see a new personalization icon that brings up relevant posts and pictures from the user's Google+ circle of friends.

Another screenshot of Search Plus Your World in action:

As you can see, users are given the option to switch between personalized and non-personalized results. The main thing here is that Twitter and Facebook are completely excluded from the search.

Here is what Amit Singal thinks about this: “Facebook, Twitter and other services do not allow our search robots to view their content. Google+ is the only network that is open to search. Of course, if other services revise their privacy policies, then we will go forward and think about their use in search.”

From this point of view, it is clear that Google does not rule out intentions to include content from social giants in the search.

ProfilesGoogle+ in search

Another innovation of Search Plus Your World is how Google+ profiles are displayed on the SERPs page.

People logged into Google+ can see their profile and friends right in the search box

Miranda Miller's opinion from Search Engine Watch:

This search engine feature can be very handy for both the average user and the masses. The results of such SERPs are extremely relevant, especially when things like SEO are taken into account. It will be interesting to see how Google handles complaints about content generated by other users.

Google can also suggest other people to users by auto-completing when searching in Google profiles+. People will be able to add the user they like to their circles with a single click right on the search results page. This option will work based on the markup of the author's profile on the search results page, which Google launched at the end of last year.

Here's what it would look like in action:

OffersPeople& Page(People and Pages)

When the search engine feels that the suggestions of people and pages are relevant, then it will display them on the right side of the SERP. Here's what it might look like:

Danny Sullivan on this feature:

This is a great promotion for Google+ (and proves once again why marketers can't ignore Google+). But there are still a lot of people on Facebook and Twitter. Google has to find these people and show them to searchers on the search results page, and that's the search engine's job.

But they won't get that kind of promotion. Only Google+ gets this and I don't think it's quite right.

In general, I like integration when you have the ability to separate private and public content. As I said, this will prove useful to many.

I think more privacy controls will be added, for example, the user should be able to choose between publishing content publicly and privately.

Most of all, I would like to see Google come to grips with the issue of integration with other social networks in the coming weeks. Yes, there are things that can ban Facebook or Twitter and fail to reach an agreement on certain issues.

But even without such agreements, Google has many ways to promote these and other services. The methods may be the same as in the case of Google promotion+. I would like to see it soon.

Unprecedented Security

Google has shared some security mechanisms with us, including SSL search for logged in users:

When it comes to security and privacy, Search Plus Your World is at its best. Since some of the information you find in searches, including posts and private Google+ photos, is well protected by SSL encryption, we decided that the SERP page should be protected at the same level. That year we became the main search engine that started using SSL in search. This means that when you're logged into Google, your search results, including private content, are protected by the high encryption standards used in Gmail.

We also want to be as transparent as possible about how our system works and we care about your knowledge. The current changes provide interface elements and settings similar to Google+. For example, personalized results can be clearly labeled as: Public, Restricted, and Just for You. In addition, people in the SERPs are classified as Google+ circles, or may be in link suggestions.

In addition, in the upper right corner of the search results page there is a button that shows what your search result will be without personalized content. Just one click and you can see non-personalized results.

This means you won't see anything from your friends, no private information, and no personalization in your Web History http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54068 . This button works for an individual search session, but there is an option in the search settings to enable this feature by default. Search settings depend on various contextual cues, including location and language.

This is unprecedented transparency and control over personal search results.

Some thoughts on SSL from Miranda Miller of SearchEngineWatch:

Although the SSL protocol provides an appropriate level of security, secure personalized issuance pages and their history under the secrecy of exchange law electronic information(ECPA) can fall into the hands of government organizations, just as happened with email. We already discussed last year that civil servants can request, use personal data of emails without warning the user and any reason.

Between July and December 2010, Google received 4,600 requests for access to personal data through the court, search warrants and the ECPA bill. As a result, 94% of the requirements were met.

Amit Singal on SSL:

We have been working on this protocol for a whole year, we had to work hard to achieve its ideal work. After all technical issues were resolved, we launched it to the masses.

Despite the correct operation of SSL, the debate and criticism from SEOs does not fade away on the Internet. With the recently introduced SOPA bill and other government interventions in the Internet environment, this concept can be quite useful to users. But, from the point of view of SEO, this will cause the loss of part of the referral data on request. According to Google, in the first stage they will not exceed 10% of the total number of search queries, but according to my observations, losses can reach 20-30%.

Personalization by default

Google has made the decision to use personalized search as a baseline.

Amit Singal explained why they did this:

I think that this type of search is a new experience, a more advanced algorithm that will help to carry out high-quality search results.

If you want to opt out of personalized search results, you'll have to dig into your settings. It is also possible to use a special button with the image of the planet in the right corner, which allows you to hide personal results.

Despite the fact that personalized issuance will be the default, an important aspect remains the possibility of choice, which since 2009 has not been a priority in development. Thus, the personalization of search results is becoming the new “normal”.

Danny Sullivan had a great comment on this “norm”:

Of course, it is a mistake to assume that such a presentation of information will lead to good search results. The search engine will be able to identify personalization factors such as your web browser history, your search history, or social connections.

But geographic focus, which can be really significant, will produce results. First of all, the search algorithm will be based on the query language. Google will use these specific contextual signals on a geographic and linguistic basis, which are not associated with personal data in any way.

The situation with Google+ and 100 million users is very interesting. If most of them are active members, then they should be authorized. This means that “normal” SERPs are personalized SERPs. Registered users can take full advantage of personalized search, the new standard, those who are not yet registered cannot and are doomed to use the outdated algorithm.

Now you need to log in to your account and watch the changes in the search results. It's very interesting to see the impact of a personalized approach to search, as well as the response of the two social giants Twitter and Facebook.

Google Search Plus Your World. And thus, offered users a more personalized approach to the process of finding information. The new approach is that users can include in the search results the so-called "personal results", which allow to obtain data about what users of the company's services write about the subject of Internet search. For example, if you type the word “holidays” in a big Google search, in the search results you will find, first of all, offers from travel agencies, in the social search, the list of results will contain reviews and reports of your friends about their holidays.

At the same time, access to the results is carried out only if the users-authors themselves have opened access to the data, or if the user is looking for information among members of their circles on Google+. Now “personal results” are taken from the Google+ social network and Picasa directories. New Opportunity So far it works only on the English version of the search engine. And by the way, the old version of information search has also been preserved. And at any time the user can disable social search.

Interestingly, the IT community disapproved of the novelty from Google, accusing the company of distorting search results and aggressively pressuring users to go to Google+ more often. According to a Wired journalist, the introduction of social search is another blow against the social network Facebook. The company also responded to information about new feature Google search.

"Twitter user profiles and their posts are important sources of up-to-date information on the Internet. We are concerned that as a result of changes in Google, they will become harder to find. Everyone will lose from this," the company said in a statement.

"Each of the social networks, no matter how they blame Google now, Facebook, for example ... Facebook has been trying to launch its internal search for a long time, and in general social networks tend to keep users inside themselves. It's just that Facebook has not yet been able to launch social search inside itself. Everyone is talking about it, everyone is striving for it, - says the founder of Liveinternet.ru German Klimenko. - The question of whether Google is crossing the line here in suppressing other competitors at its own expense, we will leave this to the court. But that this is logical, on the whole, and will most likely result in the Google+ network itself getting very close to rival Facebook, is obviously enough."

Some analysts point out that Google's aggressive new attempt to promote Google+, using its dominant position in the Internet search market, may be of interest to antitrust authorities. According to rumors, documents are already being prepared for a major investigation against Google. US regulators are believed to suspect Google of prioritizing its own services like Youtube and Google when ranking search results. Google Maps. However, there was no official confirmation of this information.